The present invention relates to an apparatus to be used in the provision of medical services, particularly surgical procedures within adverse field environments.
When a person suffers a major injury, the immediate next hour is the “Golden Hour” in that the medical treatment received in the first sixty minutes to stabilize the injury and prevent further complications is usually critical in preventing loss of life or limb.
For soldiers, sailors, and airmen injured in battle, the initial medical treatment is usually “care under fire” provided by a medic or Navy corpsman as close as possible to the time and place of injury with whatever medical equipment the medic or corpsman carries on their person. The medic or corpsman's critical task is to stabilize the wound and assist in getting the wounded soldier to the nearest medical facility where doctors and surgeons provide more extensive treatment of the wound and stabilization of the wounded soldier before transferring them to a hospital.
In modern warfare, military doctors and/or forward surgical treatment units are located even closer to the battlefield to stabilize major wounds and save soldiers' lives as soon as possible after the time of injury. In Iraq and Afghanistan today, this often means a surgeon operating on a wounded soldier in a house, hotel, commercial building, tent, or even in the open at or near the time and place of injury. For a surgeon to work effectively on wounded soldiers under such conditions and save as many soldiers' lives as possible, the surgeon needs a platform to hold the stretcher (or litter in military terms) on which the wounded soldier is brought to them. This platform would function as an operating table in a hospital in raising or lowering the patient to whatever height the surgeon requires, tilting the stretcher as needed for various medical procedures, and supporting required equipment such as intravenous poles, surgical instrument trays, lights, patient arm boards, stirrups for lower extremity wounds, and other surgical equipment.
Thus it can be seen that there is a need for this means a portable, light-weight operating platform that can be carried by one person and erected quickly under adverse conditions at any location to allow surgeons to treat the wounded soldier as quickly and effectively as possible to stabilize their wounds and save their life.
A similar need exists in the non-military world in situations of mass casualties in natural or man-made disasters. Under normal situations when a civilian suffers major injury, they can be rushed by ambulance or helicopter to a nearby hospital for emergency shock trauma treatment. However, in the event of a mass casualty, roads can be impassable, local hospitals can be overwhelmed, and medical evacuation helicopters insufficient by the sheer number of injured people. In non-military mass casualty disasters as in warfare, the need is for a portable, light-weight operating table or platform than can be carried by one person and erected quickly under adverse conditions at any location to allow surgeons to treat critically injured people as quickly and effectively as possible to stabilize wounds and save lives.
Another critical problem and need is in the event of biological or chemical attack or “spill.” In this situation, hospitals with formal operating rooms in close proximity may be available, but to prevent contamination of hospitals and surgical operating theaters it will almost certainly be necessary to perform life-saving surgical procedures in a variety of buildings, tents, or other facilities away from the hospitals and other patient treatment facilities.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a novel apparatus for a portable, light-weight operating platform that can be carried by one person and erected quickly under adverse conditions at any location.